Thousands woke up without power after a winter storm passed through the South and Northeast of the United States

Rhoda Kwan—

Tens of thousands of people woke up without power on Saturday after a winter storm hit wide swathes of the United States, from the south to the far northeast.

Up to 17 inches of snow and ice covered parts of New York state, Vermont, Indiana and Maine

early Saturday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) reported.

[A retired Hispanic shovels snow in his neighborhood for free: "When you thank me, that's enough"]

In a separate bulletin, the agency warned that "extremely cold temperatures will encompass an area from the Southern Plains to the Ohio Valley and the Northeast" on Saturday.

About 87,444 homes were still without power in Tennessee early Saturday, while nearly 56,000 woke up in the dark in New York state, according to outage tracking site Poweroutage.us.

Workers remove ice from a sidewalk in Boston on Friday, February 4.

More than 350,000 homes lost power due to a winter storm, from Texas to the Ohio Valley and the Northeast of the country.Michael Dwyer / AP

Parts of Michigan, Minnesota, New York and North Dakota are under a winter watch all weekend, the NWS said.

But by Sunday things would gradually start to heat up, she added.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has deployed 24 National Guard members to support recovery efforts in Ulster County "as a severe winter storm continues to affect the mid-Hudson region with ice and snow," her office said. in a press release on Friday.

[They rescue a couple who had been trapped by snow for two months in a cabin in California]

"The state will deploy additional assets to support recovery operations for as long as necessary," Hochul said.

The governor had warned residents to stay home if possible to avoid icy roads and the threat of falling tree limbs in the Hudson Valley and Capital regions, according to the Associated Press.

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"We're not out of the danger zone yet," he said.

"The weather is wildly unpredictable."

As the roads became more slippery, there were hundreds of car accidents.

“Patrols were going from one accident to another,” the Massachusetts State Police tweeted Friday, reporting that one person had died.

[Sierras in Mexico are covered with snow because of 'La Niña']

Officers have responded to at least 200 crashes since Thursday, the police agency said.

"This number is definitely low, because the reports are still being written and entered," he added.

New Hampshire State Police also reported 72 crashes Friday morning, while authorities in Maine reported at least 10. One crash in Memphis involved 15 vehicles.

In Stowe, Vermont, skiers enjoyed the winter conditions this Friday, February 4. Wilson Ring / AP

Further south, in Tennessee, cleanup continued after a tornado hit the Memphis area on Thursday.

Robert Knecht, the city's director of public works, said late Thursday that at least 225 trees had fallen.

And although they are a minority, the heavy snowfall was welcomed by some.

Skiers and

in Vermont were happy to record some of the best skiing conditions of the season.

"We are having a lot of fun, everything flows," one person told the AP agency.